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Music Symphony

What does the Symphony mean?
Symphony means a sonata for orchestra. It has four movements. First movement: Usually fast, and in sonata form.Second movement: Usually slower and more song-like. It could be in sonata form or ternary form, and perhaps with variations. Third movement: Haydn and Mozart wrote a minute in trio at this point. Beethoven later turned this into a Scherzo (A direct translation is joke.) Fourth movement: Fast, often light hearted, perhaps in Rondo form, or sonata form, or with variations. Classical Period:

Firstly, the strings play the melody most of the time. In most classical symphonies, each movement is a self-contained composition with its own set of themes. A theme in one movement will only rarely reappear in a later movement. But a symphony is unified partly by the use of the same key in three of its movements. More importantly, the movements balance and complement each other both musically and emotionally. The classical symphony follows form and structure very meticulously. Romantic Period:

The Romantic Symphony is an expanded version of the Classical symphony. It is much larger in size and in length with the addition of many more instruments and sometimes more than four movements. During the romantic period, the woodwinds were favoured, and were given more opportunities to play the melody. There are more instruments in the Romantic Symphony as compared to Classical Period. There was freedom of form and design. It was considered to be more personal and emotional. They are much more expressive in terms of harmonization, rhythmic patterns, and dynamics. Many Romantic symphonies were examples of program music, a new instrumental form. Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastiqueis an example of a Romantic symphony.

Haydn’s Symphony 101 in D major: The Clock, movement 1

The strings play the melody mostly. However, the woodwind sometimes plays it. It is in Sonata form and is in 6/8 timing, an unusual timing during that period. The opening is...

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...Beethoven’s Life
On December 17, 1770, an amazing composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, was born. According to the “Enjoyment of Music” textbook, Beethoven was born in Bohn, Germany. His father, along with his grandfather, was both singers at the court of the local prince, Max Friedrich. (Forney & Machlis 197).
It was exposed that Beethoven, at an extremely young age, was forced to have to support his mother and two younger brothers due to his father’s constant drunkenness. Not even at the age of maturity yet, Beethoven was the assistant organist in the court chapel. A single year later, he advanced to become the harpsichordist in the court orchestra. A talented young man, Beethoven was privileged enough to perform for the infamous Mozart at the tender age of seventeen. Mozart too noticed that this young man was unusually gifted, commenting to his friends, “keep an eye n him- he will make a noise in the world some day”. And that, he surely did.
Beethoven did do what he had originally set out to do though. He was more than able to support his mother and brothers with handsome payments for lessons or gifts, given to him by the music-loving aristocracy. He also got money by performing concerts and writing and publishing his music.
Then, the most horrible thing that can happen to a musician happened to him; he began to lose his sense of hearing. His first symptoms occurred in his early twenties and he started to feel alone in the...

...Period: Block of time connected with music and chord progressions leading to a PAC; usually an antecedent phrase (ending with an HAC) and consequent phrase (ending with a PAC) once you get to the end of a period, the PAC offers a sense of completion
Periodicity: Difference between Baroque and Classical music (In Baroque compositions, the melody always continues and in Classical compositions, the melody will be a set number of measures and will have individual phrases following
Empfindsam Style: “Sensitive Style”; used by CPE Bach in his Keyboard Sonata; in this style, it is almost as if the phrases are one gesture after another (not really connected in any way) the composition is VERY intimate with ornamentations; the melody is fragmented and improvised, very emotional with embellishments everywhere
Alberti Bass: A style of bass accompaniment used in piano sonatas (a style of arpeggiation, keeps the pieces moving) (used in Mozart’s piano sonatas!!)
Opera Buffa: Comical opera, always in Italian, strictly sung
Intermezzo: A type of opera buffa (which has 2 acts) intermeshing with the 3 acts of the opera seria. It will go as follows: Act 1 Opera Buffa, Act 1 Opera Seria, Act 2 Opera Buffa, Act 2 Opera Seria (goes back and forth between 2, but meshes them together; Opera Seria story is usually different)
Opera Seria: Continuation of Baroque Neopolitan opera in terms of subject matter (always in Italian based on Greek Mythology or an...

...﻿George Pertesis
Music History 104
Professor Murchie
30 October 2014
Beethoven-Symphony No.5 in C Minor
After listening to the first movement of Symphony No.5 composed by Ludwig Beethoven, one can conclude that he is both a Classicist and a Romanticist.
There are many aspects of his music that makes Beethoven a Classicist. There is balance, symmetry, and order prevalent throughout the symphony. The way the instruments are played is in Classical form. What distinguishes Beethoven from other famous classical composers such as Mozart and Haydn is that he pushes the boundaries from the Classical Era to the Romantic Era. Compositions of the Classical period were simply written for the sake of music. In a sense, Beethoven is the youngest child of the three. Mozart and Haydn do things by the book, while Beethoven breaks the rues and finds his own way. He was the child of Enlightenment and emphasized individualism rather than tradition. This is evident in symphony no.5 (1st movement), which is one of Beethoven’s most popular works and still heard today.
What Beethoven composed is revolutionary and unique. The symphony starts off with a 4-note motive, “da da da daaa”, that many of us can recognize. The motive was even played as a victorious moment through Morse Code in World War II. The most significant characteristic of the opening motif is the rhythm, which...

...﻿Individual Assignment no. 2
Schubert’s Symphony no.8 in B minor, also called the Unfinished Symphony, deviates from the typical first movement of a Classical symphony in various aspects.
Similar to other Classical symphonies, the first movement of unfinished symphony adapted sonata form as the skeleton. Despite the use of symphonic sonata form, Schubert begins the piece by an 8-bar quiet solo Preface theme which is played by the cellos and double basses in unison. The low registers and softly played Preface theme creates a mysterious and mournful effect. Also, the theme ends with single long note F #. This gives an unfinished sense and some consider the Preface theme as part of the primary theme. It is unconventional as Classical symphonies usually start with a brief introduction or directly with the primary theme.
Followed by the Preface theme, the primary theme begins with the murmuring in the violins and stepwise motive from the Preface theme. The primary theme does not end in a normal way with a cadence in its home key. Although there is a cadence in its relative major, D major, it expands and link to the non-modulating bridge section which contributes to its structural instability. The perfect cadence in B minor appeared only at the end of the non-modulating bridge.
In addition, Unfinished Symphony lack of transition. There was no transition between the...

...Beethoven Symphony No. 3 and Mozart Symphony 40 Forms
Sonata form is one of the more popular forms of music that is found in a variety of different works including symphonies, concertos, and sonatas. Sonata form features three distinct sections: the exposition, development, and recapitulation. Mozart was one of the early composers of this form of music. I will examine the clear distinctions between each section and how he does not stray from the typical form. In later years the form would change to become more fluent and focused on the growth and expansion of the piece. This progression of change was led by the works of Beethoven and the changes can be clearly seen in his grandiose works. By comparing the first movement of Symphony No. 40 by Mozart and the first movement of Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” by Beethoven one can begin to understand this progression and development of the sonata form.
Before analyzing, it is essential to know about each individual composer. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 into a musical family and was a musical genius. At the young age of three, Mozart was able to identify intervals on the keyboard (his favorite was known to be the 3rd). It didn’t take much time after this for him to get into keyboard lessons or to begin writing small compositions beginning in 1761 at the age of 5 under the guidance of his father, Leopold Mozart. Between...

...
My Experience with the ISU Orchestra
Concert 3: Tchaikovsky
On the 28th April 2011 I participated with the Iowa state orchestra on the last performance for
the year. The orchestra included works by Tchaikovsky. The orchestra performed the 5th
Symphony in E minor. This piece is in sonata form, which has a theme that is heard throughout
the piece. The overall trajectory of the Tchaikovsky’s 5th reminds the listeners to Beethoven’s
5th symphony as they were both during the times of war and it is illustrated in both symphonies.
This piece is a perfect example of a Romantic-era symphony colorful, complex and above all,
passionately emotional.
The symphony has four movements which consist of a fast, slow, dance and another fast
movement. The theme of this piece is heard throughout this piece. The first movement is the
Andante- Allegro con anima begins with a lengthy slow introduction, entering darkly with a
funeral character on the clarinet. In sonata form the subject enters gently with the repetitive
brevity of a Russian dance, building in intensity. The development section is quite short and
concentrated with the recapitulation sneaking in, in the bassoons. The coda recedes into the
deeps, presaging the mood of the next movement.
Following the first movement is the Andante cantabile which has a tender, expressive melody
played by the French horn that sounds almost like a love song....

...Elements of Music
Pitch – register (high or low); Organization of pitches with a pattern of intervals between them creates scales; Words we might use to describe scales: major/minor, chromatic, gapped, and pentatonic.
Rhythm – the time element of music. A specific rhythm is a specific pattern in time; we usually hear these in relation to a steady pulse, and mentally organize this pulse or tempo into meter (sometimes called a "time signature"). Meter organizes beats into groups, usually of two or three; beats can be divided into small units usually 2, 3 or 4 subdivisions
Melody, or musical line, is a combination of pitch and rhythm (some say "duration"). Sometimes a melody is considered to be the theme of a composition. We might characterize melody by its contour (rising or falling) and the size of the intervals in it. A melody that uses mostly small intervals (or scale steps) and is smooth is said to be a conjunct melody. Not surprisingly, a melody that uses large intervals is called a disjunct melody. A motif (or motive) is either a very short melody or a distinctive part of a longer melody. I might describe the opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as a "motific cell."
Timbre – sound quality or tone color; timbre is the characteristic that allows us to distinguish between one instrument and another, and the difference between vowel sounds (for example, long "a" or "ee"). Terms we might use to...

...Symphony No. 7 in A Major (Op. 92), completed in 1812, might have been one of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s most popular pieces. The seventh of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, its premiere concert (December 1813 in Vienna) was performed at a charity concert in order to benefit the soldiers who had been wounded a few months prior in the battle of Hanau. It was performed three times in ten weeks following its premiere. During the time of the symphony’s premiere, Vienna was still distressed due to being taken over by Napoleon in 1805 and 1809 and yearning for victory; the audience at the premiere seemed to have loved the energy and beauty of the piece. The Seventh Symphony had been dedicated to both Count Moritz von Fries and Russian Empress Elisabeth Aleksiev. The symphony’s second movement (Allegretto) is often performed separately from the complete symphony and has actually been featured in several famous movies, including Immortal Beloved (1994) and The King’s Speech (2010.)
Being that the Seventh Symphony was completed in 1812, an elongated interval had passed since Beethoven’s last symphony. It was a longer time than had passed between any of his other symphonies, and during this period he composed a large number of less important works (such as The String Quartets in E flat.) At this time, Beethoven was a widely recognized composer but not yet exactly most popular, published, or...